This week’s Bromsgrove and Droitwich Standard letters.
Island surrounded by roadworks
TRAFFIC chaos continues around Bromsgrove.
The main road to Kidderminster is closed for three months, reportedly with a 22 mile diversion!
Whitford Road, connecting Worcester and Kidderminster roads, is closed for the second time, until March 22..
The Worcester Road A38 at Upton Warren is single lane with temporary traffic lights, while the Eastern Bypass has lane closures for A38 improvements.
This means that access to Bromsgrove is disrupted from the southern, eastern and western directions, which is unacceptable.
Are the highway authorities not required to consult with each other, to minimise the inconvenience to the public?
Driver delayed by roadworks
Bromsgrove
NEW ANALYSIS from Droitwich and Evesham Labour – based on new figures published by the Ministry of Justice this month – reveals there are now 59 local families who have faced proceedings to eject them from their home in the years since the Tories promised to ban the practice in April 2019.
They are part of an ever-growing number across the country, now approaching 90,000 households nationally.
‘No-fault evictions’, also known as Section 21 notices, allow landlords to order tenants to leave with a minimum of two months’ warning – without having to prove that the tenant is at fault.
The figure is based on the number of no-fault eviction letters that have been followed up with a possession claim in the courts.
The true scale of the problem could be far worse, as not all Section 21 notices will necessarily reach this stage.
There are 7,700 households privately renting in Wychavon – each and every one still vulnerable to no fault evictions almost five years after the Conservative Government promised to stamp them out.
Labour has called for real action to support renters including a Renters’ Charter, providing new certainty for renters, ending ‘no-fault’ evictions and introducing four-month notice periods for landlords.
Labour has been calling for an end to no-fault evictions for years – but the Conservatives have failed to act, leaving Wychavon private renters at risk.
Families in Wychavon need protection from the threat of having their lives thrown upside down through such evictions – and Labour will provide it.
Our plan for a Renters’ Charter will give real certainty for renters. It’s time to end 14 years of Tory failure, chaos and confusion.
That change can only come with an election and a Labour Government.
Sue Wood-Griffiths
Droitwich and Evesham Labour Party
A minute’s silence
THE NEW ITV drama, Breathtaking, which started earlier this month and is set in a hospital on the frontline during the pandemic, will be triggering for many people who were bereaved during that time.
This period was a devastating time of loss where people’s normal traditions and death rituals couldn’t take place or were altered in some way. For a great many, this made their grief either delayed or more complicated and put millions at risk of needing formal grief counselling.
On Sunday, March 3, Marie Curie will lead the nation in a UK-wide Day of Reflection to remember the people who died during the pandemic, from any cause, and to show support for those who were bereaved.
It’s a day for healing and hope for the future.
We’re asking the public to observe a minute’s silence at midday and if anyone needs support with their grief, or someone to talk to, please contact Marie Curie’s
Support Line for free on 0800 090 2309 or visit dayofreflection.org.uk
M Williams
Associate Director of Information and Support at the end of life charity, Marie Curie
Ideas please!
BROMSGROVE District Council is to make a decision for an office block and shops to be built on the old Market Hall site the council closed down and demolished when it had nothing else to do one day, many, many years ago.
It will comprise of shops, but we already have shops in the High Street that are vacant – 26 to be exact because I counted them when we last shopped at Aldi.
Why do we shop at Aldi, Asda, etc? Because they have everything you want, yes they are superstores – they supply more than one shop alone.
Bromsgrove District Coiuncil decided we would have these stores in one of its decisions it made for us for all of us many years ago.
But this council has no other idea of what we want.
As I said previously we shop as Aldi, the car park next door owned by the council is a disgrace, furthermore the noticeboard is intelligible.
We can have local elections but it appears we still end up with the same cohorts.
We need councillors with ideas and not just to keep a particular political party in power which is what the country is suffering from at the moment.
S Francis, Romsley
Happy shopper
AS AN out of town shopper, can I sing the praises of two Bromsgrove shops?
Spains on New Road simply has to be the best hi-fi / TV store in the Midlands.
The staff are knowledgeable, the products are stunning and the prices very competitive.
Needless to say I bought something and am totally satisfied with it.
And let’s give a shout too to Rymans in the High Street.
I’d thought shops like it had died years ago! Again, perfect service and a cornucopia of goodies to buy!
